The Help Pike Get a New Graphics Card Thread

[Pike]

So my computer is six years old and terrible and can hardly run anything anymore. I intend on building an entirely new one at some point within the next year or so but in the meantime while I'm saving up I could use a better graphics card. :kakapo:

This is my current ancient video card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130261)

And this is my current ancient motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127207)

I figure there is some sort of "moderate" video card upgrade that maybe isn't top of the line anymore but will still be a good upgrade. What do you guys recommend? (Also why google when I can just ask you guys?)

[Gamblet]

Hmm, I have a 8500 GT right now and it runs very well. But as far as I have read on the interwebs, the 8600 or 8800 GT are better in performance.

I used to have 8800 GTX, but it randomly went buggy all of a sudden when playing games (textures were all over the place like spikes and other magical stuff). Maybe it was overheating or something, even though I checked the temperature with a program and it was okay. Installing new drivers did not help either.

Mystery, mystery...

EDIT: By the way, can anybody tell me if motherboard with AM2 socket can take dual-core (or even tri-core) processors?

[Tigmafuzz]

In the neighborhood of motherboards, the Intel ASRock P67 Pro (http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Pro) has four DIMM slots to accommodate a maximum of 32GB of RAM, supports overclocked RAM at speeds up to 2133MHz, has a pair of 6gbps SATA ports as well as four 3gbps SATA ports, six USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports, but only a single PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot. $99

If you're looking to have multiple graphics cards, the Gigabyte GA-970A-D3 (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3908#ov) also has four DIMM slots with support for memory overclocked to speeds of up to 2000MHz, but has two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, six 6-gbps SATA ports, and eight USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports. $90
Also give the Gigabyte X79-UD3 (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4050#sp) a look.

If $219 is within your budget, check out the Asus Crosshair V Formula. (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/#specifications) I got one last month and it's my new favorite.

Here's some graphics card comparisons (http://graphics-cards-review.toptenreviews.com/) so you can check a couple out on your own. I would recommend one of the latest Radeon HD cards. 6950, 6970, or 6990. They're beasts.

And take look at these sexy little babies. Built-in heat spreaders. Uhhhh. (http://www.gskill.com/products.php?c1=1)

[Jinx]

thought this was going to be a thread where Pike sets up a PayPal for people to donate her money for her new doo-hickey.

[Mirage]

All right pike. If you're going to get a whole new setup not too long into the future, I would recommend getting a video card that would we good enough for the new PC as well.

If I were you, I would buy a GTX 560Ti, those should be reasonably cheap now, cause they're not *really* bleeding edge, but there is no game on the market today (and probably won't be in the next couple of years) that won't be playable on that card. This card performs about 30% better than my own video card, which is a GTX460 (the mid-end model from a year before the GTX560Ti), and I even with this card, I can play all current games with relatively good graphics. Games that are mainly PC games usually work fine on medium settings at 1920x1200, and games that are made consoles and then released on PC i can play on maximum or near maximum settings at the same resolution.

If you think the GTX 560Ti is too expensive, you could drop the "Ti" version and go with the regular version. I would however recommend against buying the "SE", because the SE is weaker than the regular version. If you're not sure which version you're about to order, just link to it and we'll be able to tell you.

Your current CPU and motherboard might not have enough juice to feed the 560Ti with data as fast as it can process it, so you probably won't get as much as possible out of the card yet, but it will still let you play games with as good graphics as any current console. However, when you upgrade the rest of your PC, you'll be able to squeeze every bit of juice out of it, and your games should start performing and looking several times better than what any current console can push out.

A GTX560Ti will fit (and work with) your current motherboard, but what might be a problem is the power supply in your current PC. If it is kind of old (PSUs degrade with age, because the capacitors inside them can dry out, leading to a lower maximum output than what they had when new. 5 years is a bit old for a PSU), and not more than 400W, this card could push the PSU dangerously close to its limit, and that could lead to it dying. A new, and decent brand PSU at 450W should be sufficient to run a GTX560Ti, but if want a little more headroom, you could get one that's 500W or 550W. Personally, I seriously doubt you'll need more than 500W if it's from a good manufacturer.

For a real life example, my PC has been running perfectly fine for 3-4 years with my current 450W Corsair PSU, and my PC has a GTX460 (which has a power draw not significantly different from a 560Ti), an overclocked Core 2 Quad CPU, 3 hard drives and a DVD drive. There's also some other stuff in it, but it doesn't make a significant impact on my total power draw. I measured the amount of power my PC consumed with a watt-meter a year or two ago, and it wasn't using more than around 250 watts while playing a game.

[Pike]

All that good advice, thanks Mirage! <3

[Slothy]

As someone who grabbed a 560 Ti back in October I would second that recommendation. It may not be top of the line, but it is a beast.

Before I got it when my 8800 GTS 512mb was still running strong I tried playing a newly released L4D2 level which had tons of running water at the start and saw my frame rate slow to a crawl. I then learned that, for some reason, the game had all of it's settings maxed including things like 16x AA and AF which is kind of absurd and it made no sense for it to change the settings on its own, but I digress. Once I popped in the new card I decided to try that level, and pretty much every other game I had at the absolute maximum. It laughed at my attempts to break it and kept chugging along happily. In older stuff like CS: Source or L4D2, it was happy to run with every setting maxed and still put out frame rates in the 150+ range without really breaking a sweat. Newer games were well above 30 with settings pretty much maxed.

I don't know about you, but there's not much I find more satisfying sometimes than testing a new card with stuff that made an old card tit its pants and having no issues.

[Pike]

Awesome, I'll definitely be looking into that one.

[Mirage]

The funny part is of course that even a 8800GT from 4 years ago can easily keep up with the graphics on consoles today, so even with such an old card, you'd be having better graphics than a 360.

[Pike]

My brother had a 9500 GT lying around and gave it to me and it basically just doubled my performance in every PC game I own. Considering how it came out like four years ago, that should tell you a little something about the state of my current computer... :|

[Mirage]

Well, that's not too bad. It should be slightly below an 8800GT in terms of performance, I think. That's what I had before and it performed better than PS360.

Does this mean your new graphics card plan is on hold?

[Pike]

Does this mean your new graphics card plan is on hold?

It is for the next couple of months while I save up some money, but I still plan on getting an even better one.